Shall Hope Be Eternal
by Tragic Ophelia
Summary: Now something about Madeline! It's depressing and sad... But totally worth reading.


A/N: I'm bored, and someone wrote a fic about Louise... So now it's Madeline's turn. I can't remember if they've stated her last name, but if so, it's now Thomas in my little world. Everything belongs to someone else-I don't own anything, at all.

Madeline Thomas gazed around the magnificent room. It was richly decorated, with a plush carpet and luxurious sofas and chairs. She flopped onto the oversized leather chair back in the corner. From behind the chair she pulled out a large photo album. She started flipping throughout the pages, until she stopped at the picture she had been looking for. It was a picture of her, Paris Geller, Louise Grant, and Rory Gilmore on their graduation day. The picture had been taken by her then boyfriend, Austin Thomas.

__

I know what you came for  
and I know when you'll leave  
You came for my heart  
and it's lost to me  
For I won't stop you, I will open my door  
My heart is here waiting  
I don't need it no more

Rory had gotten her happy ending, marrying Tristan DuGrey. Madeline had been Rory's maid of honor, not because Paris or Lane wasn't available. Madeline had been her maid of honor because Madeline and Rory were inseparable. Paris was married to her job. A broker at a top Wall Street firm. Louise had married another influential family, a man two years older than them.

__

I know why you're leaving  
and I'll just let it be  
I am left with nothing and now you're lost to me  
For I can't stop you, I will open my door  
My heart is here waiting  
I don't need it no more

Madeline hadn't gotten her happy ending. She and Austin had married five years after graduation. Rory was her maid of honor, and it had been a beautiful wedding. It had been in the church she had attended all her life. Rory, Paris, and Louise had worn simple pale pink tank dresses, each with her hair arranged differently. Madeline had carried pink tea roses... They had matched the dresses perfectly. She had worn a white strapless Vera Wang sheath dress. The shoes had been white mules. It had been the happiest day of her life.

__

I know why you're waiting  
Give me time to breathe  
Before you take my heart now, and just get up and leave

Then it all came crashing down. Austin had asked for a divorce, after she found out he'd been having an affair with Paris. She had countered throughout the entire divorce that she had never been in love with him, she was just pretending. Of course, only Rory knew the truth. Madeline had been head over heels in love with him. She had hoped, in the beginning, that she wouldn't get hurt. She knew it would happen in the end.

__

For I won't stop you  
I will open my door  
My heart is here waiting  
I don't need it no more

Madeline had always been wasted, used, then passed on in relationships. After having been together for five years, she had hoped her marriage would be different. She stopped at the last picture in the book. It was a picture of her and Austin from the day they were married.

__

For love makes a fool of me  
For love makes a clown of me  
Yes it does, Yes it does, Yes it does- Yes it does  
You know it's worthless, as worthless can be  


"Rory said that I looked like a child on Christmas morning that day. I guess she was right," Madeline said, smiling slightly. She would do anything to get Austin back. Her lawyer had called her this morning, and told her the divorce was final. "Way to go out with a bang, Maddie," she said, right before she swallowed a weeks worth of Valium, followed by a fifth of vodka.

__

For love makes a fool of me  
For love makes a clown of me  
Yes it does, Yes it does, Yes it does- Yes it does  
You know it's worthless, as worthless can be

****

A Cemetery in Hartford, the Next Week

Rory took the picture she had, and laid it next to the grave. The rain was pouring now, but Rory didn't seem to notice. She ran her finger over the engravings on the marble headstone. 

__

Madeline Audrey Thomas

Loving Friend and Daughter

1985-2010

Shall Hope Be Eternal

"Maddie... I wish you had called me... I just hope that you are better, wherever you are. Remember, I love you like you were my own sister. Goodbye, Madeline," Rory said, before turning to go back to the limo where Tristan was waiting. As they drove away, Rory whispered "You weren't worthless, Maddie..."


End file.
